Lost in Shadows
by GetWithIt
Summary: A freshman in college wakes up completely alone in an unfamiliar forest. When she's finally rescued, it's not quite what she was expecting. What do you do when you end up somewhere you're pretty sure doesn't exist? She'll have to figure it out, since it doesn't look like she'll be going home any time soon...


Light. Blinding light was assaulting her eyes. With a groan she squeezed them shut again.

She lay there, with her head pounding and her body aching, for another ten minutes or so before she risked opening her eyes again. When she did, she was able to keep them open and clumsily push herself into a sitting position.

With bleary eyes she took in her surroundings. Slowly, her mouth dropped into an "o" and her eyes widened.

She was in a forest, she didn't know how or why, but somehow she had been transferred from her college campus to a clearing in a densely wooded area.

"H-Hello?" she called out in a somewhat raspy voice. When no one answered she tried again, a little louder.

"Hello?" Her voice cracked a bit and she absently wished for some water. "Is anyone there?"

The quiet chirping and rustling of animals continued unimpeded, but nothing sounding remotely human responded. Reigning in her panic, the eighteen year old steadied her breathing and tried to think rationally.

She didn't want to stay in the woods, but definitely didn't want to risk trying to find her way out. She knew staying put was her best option at this point. She could only hope that whoever brought her here would return, or that somebody would notice her absence and start a search.

Besides, she didn't want to run into some wild beast. While there was still a chance something would come along to eat her, chances were significantly lower when she removed the possibility that she'd stumble upon a den and incur the wrath of a territorial animal.

Just as she was leaning forward to wrap her arms around her knees and have a desperate cry, her hair fell into her face and she froze.

_What the heck is wrong with my hair?!_

She drew more of her locks into her face and examined the strange color. "You've got to be kidding me!" she cried out in a dramatic whisper.

Any other time she knew she would be shouting for real, but somehow it just didn't feel right in the relative silence that surrounded her.

Her hair, her usually dark blond and heavily highlighted hair was, was… Periwinkle! At least, that's the only word she could find to describe it. It was a light blueish-purple, leaning a bit more towards a powder blue in the strands she held in her hands.

A strange hiccoughing laugh left her choking on air. _Oh no… ohnonono! _She had been drugged and kidnapped. That had to be it! Some pervert did something to her and _that_ was why she didn't remember anything. She had probably been roofied, like in those horror stories you read about girls who go out to bars alone.

_This is why I don't drink, why I don't party! But no! It's just my luck that it happens to me anyway… Oh God! The creep probably took me out to his secret cabin in the woods and is going to kill me! I'm going to be assaulted by some creep with a blue-hair fetish and then I'm going to be murdered and buried in the woods!_

By this point she was hyperventilating with tears pouring down her face. She cried and shook, rocking herself back and forth before the sobs finally subsided. After a considerable amount of time, judging by how low the sun looked compared to when she first woke up, she composed herself.

_Okay. This is not the time to be hysterical. I've only been lost in the woods for a few hours, it isn't anything to panic about. I. Will. Be. Fine. _She stopped sniffling and wiped her tears from her cheeks. She took a deep breath and silently congratulated herself on putting aside her unnecessary alarm.

Thinking back, she tried to figure out how she came to be in this situation, but drew a blank. It looked like the whole drugged and kidnapped scenario was the most likely case.

Only… Her clothes were the same and as intact as when she had put them on. Her body, thank God, didn't display any signs of an assault, physical _or_ sexual. So, maybe it was a prank?

She doubted that. In the month and a half she'd been in college she'd been polite and had spoken to a few people in each of her classes, but she'd hardly made any new friends (let alone friends who would do something like this). A few friends from high school had gone on to the same college, but she only really kept in touch with one of them, since he lived on the floor below her.

When that train of though didn't go anywhere, she went back to thinking about the chance that she'd been kidnapped. It certainly seemed plausible – she couldn't remember anyth–_Wait! If I can retrace my steps, at least mentally, I could probably figure out a general idea of _when_ this happened and maybe even _who_ did it_.

So she picked the most recent morning she could remember.

She had gotten up at eight-thirty, showered, and walked to the dining all like she did every morning. After eating cheerios, eggs, and knocking back orange juice, she'd walked back up to her dorm to prepare for her first class.

As it was a Tuesday, her first class wasn't until eleven. She'd gathered her things and gone to class fairly early, having had to sit for ten minutes or so before class started and tests were handed back.

_At least if I die after this, I'll know that I had an A in Physics_. She couldn't help the smile that formed when she remembered seeing her test. It was expected, since she'd taken AP Physics in high school and had already gone over most of the first unit at the end of the year before – but it still felt nice to succeed.

_Focus! Urgh, trust _me_ to ignore a possible life threatening situation because I'm happy about a test grade._

Shaking her head in self deprecation she tried to remember what followed. She knew she'd left to go to French immediately after Physics. She'd had to take a quiz… Yes! She could remember taking the quiz and feeling fairly confident about her grade, but after that she drew a blank.

It was possible she'd been drugged, or at least knocked out, but she couldn't find any evidence to support her claim. Her head was fine – no bumps or bruises. Her limbs were stiff and sore, but that was from sleeping on the ground. The pounding in her head was painful, but her mouth didn't taste funny **[1]**, just dry, and she didn't feel any lingering fogginess like when on pain medicine. In her opinion, the migraine was most likely caused by her dehydration, though she couldn't rule anything out – especially when she considered her current circumstances. She did concede that, as she'd never been drugged before, she wouldn't necessarily know how she was supposed to feel after the fact.

The teen let out a quiet moan of exasperation. She didn't feel up to more mental strain, at least, not while her head was still throbbing the way it was. So she shakily stood and looked around to see if there were any indication of someone else putting her there.

Walking slowly with her eyes darting around to pick up any sign of movement. She searched for broken branches, foot prints, flattened grass, or anything that might give her a sign as to how she came to be lost in the woods.

When she couldn't find evidence of another human's presence she settled for examining herself for clues. She was still wearing the short-sleeved navy blue dress with the scooped neckline that she remembered picking out before class. The fact that she was still wearing it told her that whatever happened to her, happened before she went on her afternoon run. She usually changed out of her regular clothes and into running clothes at around five-thirty each day, then she'd run anywhere from forty minutes to an hour before showering and going to dinner. Taking that into account, as well as the fact that she had been present for the two classes she had on Tuesdays, meant whatever happened to her occurred between two o'clock and five-thirty.

It was still a rather large time period to narrow down, but it was better than nothing. _Besides, _she thought,_ I'm sure I'll remember more as soon as this headache fades._

Avoiding thoughts of the day before, for she assumed it was Wednesday by then, she went to check and see if anything other than her hair had changed. She decided she looked a bit paler than usual, but that could have been caused by her earlier panic, and otherwise she seemed the same as she always did.

There were no strange tattoos or piercings, only the two holes in her ears where she had her small diamond studs with the white-gold backs. She wore her usual necklace, her thin silver headband was still on her head, and her silver sandals were still on her feet. Her dress was mostly clean (aside from some dirt and dust left over from lying on the ground) and still smelled of her lavender detergent, which was pleasantly familiar.

She couldn't see her face but assumed it was fine since she couldn't feel any bruises and nothing felt out of place. Satisfied with her examination she moved to the edge of the clearing and sat down with her back propped against a tree trunk.

_This isn't so bad, _she thought, _I can wait till someone comes looking for me. It shouldn't take too long._

She knew she didn't have too many friends, but felt confident that even if her roommate didn't report her absence (they weren't very close) that her parents would notice when she didn't respond to their calls. In fact, her mom had been speaking with her on the phone Monday about picking her up for fall break.

Remembering that made her sigh with relief and erased some of the tension in her shoulders. Fall break. She was supposed to meet up with her best friend and good friends from high school. Not only that, but she'd already made plans to head home early on Friday. That meant, at most, she'd have to wait three days for someone to notice she was missing.

"I can do this," she whispered to herself, "The best thing is to avoid panicking and wait it out."

Resolved, she decided to sit and cloud-watch the rest of the afternoon away. It looked to be only a few hours away from sunset and she didn't have anything on her to fiddle with. _I would kill to have my iPhone right now… No! Not going to even go there._

Quieting her previously frantic thoughts, she tilted her head back and breathed in the fresh air. It was so much clearer in these woods. For once she felt no hint of asthma even though it was fall, one of her worst seasons. Though at any other time being in the woods surrounded by all the wildlife would have her nose clogged and her breathing ragged – her lungs remained clear. If anything, it was almost too easy to breathe.

Eventually, relaxed as she was, the unusually warm day and gentle breeze lulled her into a state of drowsiness. By the time the sun set, she was already asleep.

* * *

This time when the young woman awoke, her disorientation lasted less than a minute before the events of the day before came rushing back. The clearing looked eerie in the predawn light and she fought back a shudder. She was surprised she'd slept so long, considering she'd awoken around midday the day before and had fallen asleep early in the evening.

Shifting slightly, she rubbed her arms to try to ease away the goose bumps. In the dark, the temperature had dropped significantly, leaving her slightly chilly despite the previous day's warmth.

Her thoughts were much clearer without the hopelessness and fear she'd been overcome by the day before. Finding yourself lost, with no one to contact, no where to go… Yeah, not the best situation. The hopelessness and fear were still there, but much more manageable as she'd had some time to get over herself.

_I'm alive and well. I may be lost, but someone's probably searching for me now. There are plenty of worse situations to be in. _She didn't dare think about the chance that she was too far from her school to be found, it wouldn't do her any favors to go back into panic mode.

She decided to once again try to figure out what happened now that her mind was back in working order. Not moving from her resting spot against the tree, she closed her eyes and thought back to Tuesday afternoon.

She'd left the French classroom after handing in her test. About half the class was still there, but she'd been able to finish with a few minutes to spare. It had been an extraordinarily nice day, so she'd walked all the way back to her dorm rather than take the bus.

Her memories were becoming foggy again, but she persevered. After dropping her books off she'd, she'd…

_I went to get a late lunch at the nearest dining hall! _She could remember it now. Despite the fact that she usually skipped lunch in favor of a granola bar or piece of fruit most Tuesdays and Thursdays, she had been unusually hungry and took her lunch in a to-go box.

She'd walked back to the dorm again, not minding the slight incline because the weather was so nice, and had set up at her desk with her lunch and her homework. By that time it had been roughly three-fifteen.

Now that she'd gotten going the memories were coming easier. She remembered working until four and being beyond bored by that point. Deciding she could finish the rest later, she'd left all her work out and made her way outside to text Em about the weekend. She stepped out of the dorm and smiled at the view. Living at the top of a hill (mini-mountain really) might have proved tedious at the end of a long day, but the clear view and gentle breezes made it worth it.

She'd moved toward the lonesome picnic table in the small square of grass that had been squeezed in to fit on top of the hill with her dorm. Before sitting down she'd stood tall, staring out at the landscape below as the wind teased her hair and dress.

For that one singular moment she'd felt so connected to nature, as cheesy and sentimental as that sounds. She had inhaled deeply and for an instance she had been both completely and utterly content while simultaneously mournful – mournful for what could be if the world weren't so polluted and overtaken in the name of advancement.

She remembered wishing she could feel that way all the time, minus the sorrow. She hadn't put it in words, not really, but she'd wanted to be somewhere where she could belong, feel true to herself, and find someone who would be the one to accept her completely. It may have been cliché, but in that moment she had been seeking a world where she could be happy, somewhere she could find _someone _to make her happy.

Just remembering it made her feel silly and embarrassed. At the time though, she hadn't been. She had been content but seeking more.

She knew she was lonely, she was an eighteen year old girl who couldn't connect with others. There was nothing wrong with her physically, she rather liked the way she looked, but her crippling shyness around strangers was difficult to get around.

Even when she made friends, because she did have close friends and a great best friend, she'd always felt distanced. Something about her life had never felt quite right. It was like she wasn't where she was supposed to be. What she was doing with her life was interesting enough, she enjoyed being a physics major so far, but it just didn't feel meaningful to her.

So at that moment, when she'd been practically screaming her wish with her heart, mind, and soul, she'd hardly noticed the wind as it swirled around her. That is, until it became a just about turned into a localized tornado around her. She hadn't had time to even feel shock before she felt herself ripped from where she was standing and her mind was lost to darkness.

_ Yep. Definitely weird._ She decided._ So I've either forgotten the truth, gone insane, _OR _a tornado picked me up and dropped me off in some forest while I was being a melancholy-deranged- lonely-sentimental-fool off in la-la land!_

She snorted at herself and lightly thumped her head into the tree trunk. Every so often, and it really was rare, she would go off on strange mental monologues that bordered on philosophical at times or downright mental at others.

This time, whatever happened to her, happened while she was being hormonal and pathetic. Sure she'd felt lonely and misunderstood at times, but what teen doesn't? She just knew she was only being so weird because she'd gone to long without a boyfriend. Nearly every other girl her age had had at least one aside from her. Somehow, when she was asked out, it was always either complete strangers or really geeky boys she'd thoroughly friend-zoned. Even then there weren't all that many times she'd been asked out at all.

_Well, I guess I won't be able to help the police find out who did this considering all I remember is a mini-tornado; they probably won't want to hear that… Geez, I really hope _that_ was just a drug induced hallucination and not a sign that I'm insane._

Huffing quietly she opened her eyes and noticed that dawn had finally arrived. Standing and stretching, she decided that she needed to find a stream or creek to drink from. Her mouth was unbearably dry and she could feel the beginnings of a headache.

She didn't want to leave her clearing, because she didn't want to wander the woods and avoid any possible rescuers, but she needed to drink something soon.

Hoping there was something nearby she walked around the edges of the clearing, listening for running water. She heard something faint to what she assumed was the east, as it was in the direction of the rising sun.

She broke a low-hanging branch from a nearby tree and took one last look at her clearing before shaking herself for being silly. Then, with the stick in hand, she began to walk toward in the direction she'd heard water, gauging a deep line in the dirt as she did so. She was using her stick as a means to find her way back to the little clearing so she'd be in one place when they started searching for her.

She walked slowly, trying not to snag her hair or clothing on any branches and walked for roughly three minutes, using the line she drew with the stick to keep her going straight. Luckily enough, she found a small stream that wound back and forth for as far as she could see, which admittedly wasn't very far considering the dense foliage.

Wrinkling her nose at the idea of drinking bacteria ridden water, the teen found as many smooth stones as she could. Once she had a dozen or so and had rinsed the dirt from them, she built a miniature dam using the stones. She caught the water that continued through the cracks in the stones in her hands and brought it to her mouth with a slight grimace.

When it didn't taste foul she continued to drink eagerly. She was glad her little structure had kept the larger clumps of dirt out. She could only hope the water wouldn't make her sick. It looked clean enough and tasted fine, but she knew there could be things floating around that she couldn't see.

Once she had quenched her thirst she went to wash her face, thankful she hadn't had any make-up on to begin with. Had she had any mascara or eyeliner, she was sure she'd have nasty raccoon eyes already.

She sat there a moment longer, feeling self-conscious before she gave in and decided to wash as much as she could. After carefully removing her dress, under clothes, and shoes, she stepped into the stream. It was cold, but not unpleasantly so as she rinsed the dirt from her legs and arms. Satisfied that there was no visible filth, she started scooping water up and into her hair.

Unfortunately, whatever dye was in her hair must've been fairly permanent, as it didn't appear to fade. Actually, she wondered if whoever did it had bleached her hair to achieve the color. The lighter streaks in her hair could have been dyed, but she didn't think the darker blond sections would have turned out so well. The color was light, almost a pastel blue.

Wincing as she ran her fingers through her tangles, she decided to put it back in a French braid. Her hair was bound to get greasy without shampoo and she didn't want it to get all clumpy and gross.

When that was done, and her arms were suitably tired from being held up to do her hair, she slipped her underwear and dress back on. She patted it down a few times, trying to remove all traces of dirt, before she slipped her strappy sandals back on. Happy that she'd had the foresight to remove her clothes, as being slightly damp was giving her a chill already, she slowly made her way back to the clearing.

Once there, she walked in circles for a while, trying to get rid of all the excess energy she had.

_Now that I think about it, I feel so light! Ever since I woke up I've felt energized and awake. I could probably go for a long run and still feel refreshed judging by how I feel right now._

Of course, since she was determined to stay in the clearing, all that energy was wasted as she could do nothing but pace. A few hours passed and she didn't even feel like she'd put a dent in her energy.

She wondered if it was some after affect from the drug (because she had to have been drugged – tornados don't kidnap people), but couldn't be certain. _If this is how it's going to be until I'm rescued, I might just go insane for real._

The young woman stopped her pacing abruptly; it wasn't helping her any. She looked to the sky and was disappointed to see it was only late morning. She could already tell that by the time the afternoon rolled around it would be another beautiful day. Currently, the weather was warm with a light breeze. By her best guess, she assumed it would get to be in either the low eighty's or high seventy's temperature-wise.

Despite the nice weather she found herself unbearably bored and uncomfortable. _Even if I was kidnapped, I'd rather the kidnapper come back than be left out here all alone…_

She knew it was an odd thing to think, especially considering the fact that she hadn't been lost for all that long. In reality, it was her subconscious fears of not being found at all that kept her so keyed up.

She spent the rest of the day pacing, drinking water from the stream, drawing pictures in the dirt, humming, cloud-watching, wishing for food; basically, she did anything and everything she could think of to pass the time.

Twice, she'd had to move away from her clearing to pee. She'd been extremely careful about finding the cleanest, most harmless looking leaves to use for that.

The worst part of it all was her astonishing hunger. She'd gone about two days without food, the longest time she could remember fasting when she wasn't sick. She didn't delude herself into thinking she could forage for food. Even if she could find something, she wouldn't dare eat it – not when it could be poisonous.

Eventually the sky started to darken and she moved back to the tree she'd slept on the night before, hoping to dream away as much time as she could. Unfortunately for her, she wasn't the least bit tired. She was wide awake as the sun set and the world around her was plunged into darkness.

No matter how hard she tried she couldn't fall asleep. Instead, she sat very still, feeling fearful of the suffocating darkness. It was unsettling, hearing the nocturnal animals moving about when she could hardly see a foot in front of her face. She found herself wishing that the moon were out to shed some light on her surroundings.

She stayed up for hours trying to calm down enough to sleep. In the end, the anxiety and fear took their toll on her previously abundant energy and she fell victim to exhaustion somewhere around midnight.

* * *

**[1]** In the books I've read, when someone is drugged, they wake up with an odd or gross taste in their mouth. I wouldn't assume this applies to all drugs, but she's looking to use it as possible proof (which fails as her mouth tastes normal).


End file.
